Funny Memories That We Share

Some of the gals pals and I have been talking about this new " Nancy Drew " movie that has just opened. You can pretty much determine the median age of the group by having everyone relate not if they read the series, but which one was their first , and which one is the most memorable. Every one of the gals had ready answers, the memory of the yellow covers still bright and shiney , opinions on George and Bess, what Nancy's hair color should have been....the list goes on and on. For many of us, there wasn't another series when we were 11, 12 or 13. We were not a target market in the mid 1960's. Too young for Gloria Steinem or Helen Gurley Brown. Way the hell too young for Erica Jung or Xavieria Hollander, ( yes,.SU..I read " The Happy Hooker ") . " Nancy Drew " was the first moment that we realized that a girl ( us) could be independent. If she didn't need her father or the " Hardy Boys " to bail her ass out, neither did we. We hadn't quite graduated to the Georgette Heyers or other Regency Romances , and for me this was rather a straight line into an obsession with books. Nancy Drew to Georgette Heyer to " The Saint" by Leslie Charteris to " Charlie Chan " by Earl Derr Biggers to Perry Mason to Doc Savage to Agatha Christie to Edgar Rice Burroughs to Marion Zimmer Bradley to Frank Herbert to Anne McCaffrey and on and on and on. Throw in Tolstoy, Churchill, Bronte, Wilde, Shelley and it grows upward. There are authors that SU and I automatically buy, Clive Cusslers " Dirk Pitt " and the NUMA series, Robert Parkers " Spenser Series" , you get the idea.

Books have always meant an escape for me when I was younger , to a place where all things were possible. You always fit in, no one judges you, and if there was a crisis, more often than not, the plucky teenage girl would solve the mystery and save the day.

In many ways our children are growing up too fast, they have so much thrown at them from the earliest age , that there is no time or interest in the joy of a simple book. Their attention span is about thirty seconds at best, and the very idea of reading a book , and loving it so much that they want to re-read it is almost a foreign concept. Many have asked me why I was such a huge fan of " Harry Potter " . The answer was easy....it gave kids the idea that books were cool, and that the story engaged them. It made them talk about a book, an idea, and the fact that they were enthralled enough to re read the copies that they had in preparation for the next release or because they just liked the damn'd thing gave me hope that all is not lost in the world of reading.

I bet J.K. Rowling read " Nancy Drew ".

I know I did.

Have a great week.

Ciao,

Aunty Pol .


UPDATE :

I just spoke to SU. Our pal the Moron has just gotten word that the mass on the back of his neck near the spinal column is non cancerous.

WOOO F'G HOOOOOO

We have both been worried sick since we found out about it. This on top of some other dreadful news made for less than the stellar weekend aat Casa de Swamp. Th original MRI that the Moron had came back as " inconclusive " , which is neither good nor bad, but no definitive diagnosis scared the willies out of me and the SU . I will keep you posted on the Morons further medical adventures or " Moron's Got Something New To Bitch And Moan About. "

Blessed Be.

Aunty Pol.