MASSIVE BOOK POLL. I laboriously compiled a list of my formative books. pls check what you've read!

[belenen]

icon: "bluestocking (photo of a book lying open on a table with a bright window in the background, overlaid with a yellow fractal that looks like the sun shining through dust motes)"

Comments

[fragbert]

I can't believe someone else has read The Egypt Game. I loved that book.

[belenen]

me too! I read it over and over.

[redbird]

I read almost none of those children's books when I was a child, if that matters. I was young when I read Dr. Doolittle, and read Narnia sometime in my teens, but Catwings came out when I was already an adult, and I picked up Anne of Green Gables and the sequels because my girlfriend has them, so some time in my 40s.

[belenen]

it doesn't matter for the poll, but it is interesting! How did you like Anne of Green Gables and the sequels, being introduced as an adult?

[redbird]

I liked them enough to read the whole series over some months, after picking up the first one while visiting my girlfriend. I haven't reread them, but my rereading is unpredictable except in that I am more likely to reread books I own.

[call_me_katya]

I imagine it won't be a great surprise to you to know that the ones we most have in common are children's books! I need to clarify some of my answers though. This will be rambly so read at your leisure

[belenen]

The amount of overlap we have delights me to no end

[call_me_katya]

The overlap delights me too! I'm pretty sure The Girl With The Silver Eyes is not well-known here, I have certainly never heard anyone else mention it. The reason I could remember it/the name so clearly is that I still have it! I never gave it away.

Finding it was extremely random. I used to go into second hand bookshops with my parents and my Dad would sometimes lift books out of the bookstack if he thought they sounded interesting and on this occasion, I agreed with him! I usually didn't agree though.

I had the same experiences with plays and auditions as a child. Even playing with friends in my street I was made to be the boy... Unless I wrote the play. Even as an adult I got bit parts in plays... so I started writing poems!

[marchioness]

Island of the Blue Dolphins affects me to this day, in that If someone means quite a bit to me, I cannot comfortably use their given name. For that reason, nicknames are huge, for me.

[belenen]

hmmm, I don't remember that aspect of the book but any mysticism around names draws me strongly, so I bet that is part of the reason I liked it.

[mac_arthur_park]

That was a lovely reminder of books that shaped/influenced me. I need to go back and revisit some of them. Thank you!

Weird coincidence: as part of dealing with my grief over losing my grandparents, I've been watching a lot of the shows we shared and loved when I was little. Little House on the Prairie is one of them. I got curious the other night and fiddled around on the 'net, and--long story short--I'm now FB friends with Alsion Arngrim, who played Nellie on the show. She speaks eloquently about how that role helped her deal with personal issues surrounding abuse. She also sent me a lovely email.

I wish Granma were still around, so I could say, "Hey! Guess who is friends with Nellie Olson!"

Sorry...that derailed quickly.

[belenen]

you're most welcome!

!!! oh wow! that is really cool that you 'met' Nellie! I never saw the show, but I imagine that I would have loved it. I read the books over and over.