Thursday, November 12, 2009

Which Book?

I've been posting like mad over at Like/Don't Like. I went out to eat twice yesterday (holiday!) and both places were new to me and are small, independently owned establishments and I thought I would share because they were both terrific and I think you should go there and support them. This blog is not called "Rachel Says So" just for fun. I'm bossy.

I also posted a couple of movie reviews but no books. In fact I haven't posted a book review in over a month. You thought I had an aneurysm or something, right? But no. The month of October was dedicated to re-reading the Anne of Green Gables series. Reading those books again made me feel like I was 12. Not in the "Is that a zit?! MY LIFE IS OVER!!!!!" sort of way, but in a way that recalls spending an entire Sunday afternoon reading in the backyard. Luxurious. I started young with my Life of Elegant Leisure.

Now, I could go on and on about how much I love these books, and how they sort of forged my love of reading and how, even decades later when I read that last book, when Anne's son Walter dies in the war, I broke down and wept, and not just a gentle kind of weeping but an embarrassing sobbing sort of weeping involving boxes of tissue. When I first read that part when I was a kid I remember being practically inconsolable. So no, I'm not going to tell you all about it.

But I want you to tell me all about it. What book made you love to read?*

*Heather wrote on a similar topic yesterday. Let's go book shopping, Heather!

14 comments:

Stephanie said...

I've never known a time I didn't love to read. I seriously don't remember it, but a good book memory is from "A tree grows in Brooklyn." My great-grandmother gave it to me when I was 12 or so and I read and re-read that book. I thought it was beautiful and so grown up. I wished it was longer - I still do.

P.S. I have read Anne of Green Gables (just the first one) to Annie a couple of times. She loves it! I think I need to get the rest of the series.

Gina said...

I've given a nobel effort to reading "Anne" because I absolutely love the movies. The problem for me is her continuous chatter. Yuck. Enough already! I love hearing her speak in the movies, but done with her riff-raff in the book.

The Katzbox said...

The Secret Garden...oh my gosh...those words belong together, anyway.. "secret" and "garden"...that just carries me away right there...a big drafty house, a meadow, a boy who wants to be a friend...a key...old stone fences...I was hooked...I was reading before then, but nothing carried me off into the ether like that book...great memories...in fact, I refuse to watch any movie based upon that book...refuse!

Kelly said...

I learned to love to read as an adult. When I didn't HAVE to i learned to like it. One of my favorites is Cold Sassy Tree. It just has a great flavor. The more you read it the more you want to break out and say "Boy Howdy!" in your every day speech.

Andrea said...

I'll admit, it takes a lot for me to actually pick up a book and read it let alone get sucked into it (except for children's books, I could read those all day). But there is one that I remember my mom suggesting I read and I loved it. It was Rebecca. In fact, I'm pretty sure I read it twice. My mom also tells me the author wrote My Cousin Rachel. I haven't read that one yet but I suppose I should, I mean the name alone should be enough incentive, don't you think?

Heather said...

I am SO ready to go book shopping with you!
...but I'm on a budget, so please don't let me buy too much!

Patti said...

Ignoring your question, I just wanted to say that we just returned from visiting Prince Edward Island and all that goes with it. It was wonderful to see the house, Haunted Woods and Lovers Lane, and then to take a quick trip over to the beach with it's grassy sand and red rock beaches. So cool.

Rach said...

I got hooked on reading in 7th grade when I read all the Diana Wynn Jones books. "Witch Week" was the one that really sucked me in. Then I went through a few years where I was afraid of being a nerd, so I stopped reading, but after high school I read "Far From the Madding Crowd" by Thomas Hardy, and the world of grown up books opened up to me.

Erin said...

The Little House on the Prarie series. Good grief, I loved those books. All of them except "Farmer Boy". What the?! Back to Laura and Mary! Back, I say!

Mariah said...

I don't read much. But the book club in my ward RS gets me reading. Sometimes. We read The Blue Castle a couple months ago. Now THAT I LOVED. And it was online. I loved it so much.
This month I chose to read NieNie dialogues for our book club. That's how much I don't read books and do read online.

sarahgurl said...

A Wrinkle in Time
I've read it every year since I was 8

The Katzbox said...

OH....I read "A Wrinkle In Time" when I was around 10....it carried me away also...so stunningly mystical...

colleeeen said...

Could not answer that question. But I won my Dan over to reading (he grew up in a household where reading for pleasure was seen as a suspicious, foreign thing) by introducing him to Lord of the Rings. Then when we started Harry Potter he was prepped and hooked! When I was 11 or so, I wept when I finished the last Narnia book, because I LOVED everybody in the books and that would be the last I would ever know of them.

teresa p said...

I can remember the first book I ever read, cover to cover, in the first grade (The Whipping Boy), but I can't remember a specific book that mad me love to read. I also loved the Little House series but disagree with Erin. Farmer Boy was my favorite of all the books!