I'm with you on The Stand and LOTR - I used to be a huge King fan. Battlefield Earth? It started out ok but I hated it by the end.
Mike
Fecundity
· 1 year ago
I've never been fond of LOTR, which is odd as I'm a big fantasy buff. My husband loves it. I did love the Stand. I've always preferred Koontz to King, but that one was fantastic. Haven't read Battlefield Earth. I trust it was better than the movie...pretty much had to be.
When I'm visiting my parents for Christmas this year I have every intention of rummaging through their basement in search of my old books, mostly with an eye on what will be handy for our kid-to-be, but also to find some beloved favourites. I've already salvaged The King with Six Friends, which I can clearly remember my father (repeatedly) reading to me. It seems to be out of print, so I'm grateful they still had it. I'll be looking for The Velveteen Rabbit, the Anne of Green Gables series, Where the Wild Things Are, The Secret Garden, Thirteen O'Clock, and one that I can't remember the name of but it had a bunch of bakers with some amazing illustrations in it.
I'm sure I'll run into a lot of forgotten friends too.
Great post. Now I'm all nostalgic.
Ruth
· 1 year ago
Fecundity: I think you are remembering "In the Night Kitchen." It is indeed a neat book! There's a sappy little Mary Engelbreit poster that says,"A book is a gift you can open over and over again." Sappy, but in this case, true!
bubelah
· 1 year ago
One of my favorite series that I just re-read (13 books) are by French authors called "Angelique". It's about 17th century France and Canada. They are hard to find in English language though. I read them once when I was a teenager and re-read them again now. Another favorite that I re-read is "Gone with the Wind" in English. I read it maybe about 5 times in Russian when I was a teenager. It was one of my favorite books. I really loved "Master and Margarita" by M.Bulgakov in Russian (also back in teenhood), now I am planning to re-read in English.
plonkee
· 1 year ago
My books are keepers if and only if I have/am/will be rereading them.
In practice this means that I have and read a lot of children's books and genre fiction. Not very highbrow I imagine, but then I'm not studying literature, I'm reading for pleasure.
Eric
· 1 year ago
When I was a teenager (around age 13 or so), I read a series of books that I thought was just fantastic called Bio of a Space Tyrant by Piers Anthony. I was a big Piers Anthony fan because of his Xanth series.
I've read most of the PF books on your list as well. The one I haven't read that I think I'm gonna pick up at the library is Think and Grow Rich. They actually have a pretty recent updated copy of it.
glblguy
· 1 year ago
Great article. I've kept all of my favorite novels and now enjoy watching my children read them and talking to them about them.
Favorites from childhood I still have: Stephen King novels (Cujo, Christine, etc.), Sword of Shannara series by Terry Brooks, The Hobbit and LOTR, Xanth series by Piers Anothony, anything by R.A. Salvatore. I also fondly remember the three investigator series
Obviously I'm a big fantasy buff too :-)
guinness416
· 1 year ago
I grew up in a house filled with books (literally - there were and are always piles of them on the floor in most rooms), which probably is why I've always been a huge reader. I do understand the comfort that comes with being surrounded by volumes. However, at some point (and I think it was driven by moving around a lot) I stopped buying books altogether, although a core of non-fiction has remained with me through all my travels. The Toronto library system is genuinely great and at this point I'd much rather send a few bucks their way every so often when they have their fundraisers. We have several well thumbed through Korans and Bibles of various flavours which for two very lapsed individuals of different faiths is kinda silly. The books I loved most in my childhood were the Richard Scarry ones, although I went through a weird and obsessive Agatha Christie phase for a longish while. "Busy Busy World" was my first indication that not everyone was white and Catholic.
"The Testament of Gideon Mack" is probably the book I enjoyed most this year.
"In the Night Kitchen." That was it! Excellent. Thanks Ruth.
And having Bibles and Korans in the house of two lapsed individuals isn't so strange, Guiness416. Even if you don't believe in the books in a religious way, they are still literature and still an important part of world culture that it helps to be educated about.
SavingDiva
· 1 year ago
I read a lot growing up. However, I have to admit that the first book that I read over and over again was Gone with the Wind! In high school, I thought it was one of the greatest romance stories of all time. Plus, I was mesmorized by Scarlett's glamour.
Steve
· 1 year ago
@Eric, glblguy: Piers Anthony was a huge favorite of mine in my teen years: Bio of a Space Tyrant and Xanth were great, but I also really liked the Apprentice Adept series, the Tarot series, Incarnations of Immortality series and the Cluster books. I can pretty easily say I liked everything of his I ever read with one exception (Firefly - I imagine if you've read it you know why, it's very creepy and not in a good way).
@Fecundity: Battlefield Earth (the book) was a lot, lot, lot better than the movie (at least in my opinion)!
All Comments
Mike
When I'm visiting my parents for Christmas this year I have every intention of rummaging through their basement in search of my old books, mostly with an eye on what will be handy for our kid-to-be, but also to find some beloved favourites. I've already salvaged The King with Six Friends, which I can clearly remember my father (repeatedly) reading to me. It seems to be out of print, so I'm grateful they still had it. I'll be looking for The Velveteen Rabbit, the Anne of Green Gables series, Where the Wild Things Are, The Secret Garden, Thirteen O'Clock, and one that I can't remember the name of but it had a bunch of bakers with some amazing illustrations in it.
I'm sure I'll run into a lot of forgotten friends too.
Great post. Now I'm all nostalgic.
There's a sappy little Mary Engelbreit poster that says,"A book is a gift you can open over and over again." Sappy, but in this case, true!
Another favorite that I re-read is "Gone with the Wind" in English. I read it maybe about 5 times in Russian when I was a teenager. It was one of my favorite books.
I really loved "Master and Margarita" by M.Bulgakov in Russian (also back in teenhood), now I am planning to re-read in English.
In practice this means that I have and read a lot of children's books and genre fiction. Not very highbrow I imagine, but then I'm not studying literature, I'm reading for pleasure.
I've read most of the PF books on your list as well. The one I haven't read that I think I'm gonna pick up at the library is Think and Grow Rich. They actually have a pretty recent updated copy of it.
Favorites from childhood I still have: Stephen King novels (Cujo, Christine, etc.), Sword of Shannara series by Terry Brooks, The Hobbit and LOTR, Xanth series by Piers Anothony, anything by R.A. Salvatore. I also fondly remember the three investigator series
Obviously I'm a big fantasy buff too :-)
"The Testament of Gideon Mack" is probably the book I enjoyed most this year.
And having Bibles and Korans in the house of two lapsed individuals isn't so strange, Guiness416. Even if you don't believe in the books in a religious way, they are still literature and still an important part of world culture that it helps to be educated about.
@Fecundity: Battlefield Earth (the book) was a lot, lot, lot better than the movie (at least in my opinion)!