Love this. The Half Magic books played a pivotal role in my childhood reading habits. I have the collection and reread at least Half Magic every summer.
Gail Honeyman loops all of the characters in her books together over time, and so I consider them a series. Louise Penny is fun, especially on a long flight. At a certain point in my life, I was hooked on Sara Paretsky and bought all of her books as soon as they came out. as a kid, my favorites were the Bobsey Twins and Betsy-Tacy. And of course, Tess, who I discovered at the beginning of Covid. I turned my mom on to your Tess books, but she read them out of order. At one point, she said to me, “I can’t keep track of Crow.”
Harriet the Spy turned ME into an 11-year-old spy in 1971 in Alexandria, Va. I wish I still had the composition book I carried around to make notes (I remember my nosy mother pointing out a Congressman's wife, Betty Ford, in the local Safeway. Mrs. Ford bought pink toilet paper, which I thought was fancy.). I immediately read the sequel, the Long Secret (not as good), and waited impatiently for the next book in the series. As a Nancy Drew/Bobbsey Twins veteran, I thought a two books meant more had to come. A few years ago I read a very good biography of Louise Fitzhugh called Sometimes You Have to Lie. It explained a lot.
Trixie Belden! Wonder if I still own any. I have a vivid physical sense memory of one of them- the colors of the color, but particularly the sticky feel, because the plastic bit had acquired that old plastic feel.
A wonderful entry, thank you, and hooray for RPT’s Oz books. (I used to wait regularly on Sara Paretsky and her husband at Gitanes on Clark Street, which I remember particularly because I remember the evening they were celebrating her having sold her first book.)
I have read every book by Robert Parker - such an amazing writer. I wish the TV versions had come close - but alas. (They never do, right?). DuJardin! I had totally forgotten about her books (read in junior high). What is the connection to Emory? (I will Google - lol). Trixie was my forever hero. I started and ran a horse farm for 10 years and still love (and miss them) all because of her. If only I'd had a Regan to help care for them! (So much work). The Bob Whites of the Glenn made cleaning tack sound SOOO fun. (haha). My parents got me 3 new TB books every Christmas and birthday. I used to just DIE for another one. (Sometimes, mom would let me buy one with my allowance saved up for months when we went to the bookstore). Our library did not carry them. They had the first three and that is it. And why didn't a TV series come out about her? The Hardy Boys (Sean Cassidy!!!) was ok - and I watched - but TB! I would still run to watch it if they made one. (The authors of TB were a conglomerate of people - and I used to get mad as a child when I noticed errors in facts - Wait! You got that wrong!)
I love both outfits but truly love the pants. Either will be glamorous, amazing, and make you shine! You go! I love your books and series - return to them - we will buy them.
Sorry - Emery. Looked her up. I do think I read some of her books but they didn't stick like the Du Jardin books. Both from Illinois (as am I). But DuJardin died before I was born - Emery lived til '87. Dinny Gordon rings some bell but not enough to be memorable (not like Tess or Trixie).
I love series! Visiting characters over and over is like hanging out with a friend. I made my way through all the Nancy Drews I could find, read every Spenser novel (and every other Robert B Parker novel), did the whole Kenzie/Gennaro series, the Decker/Lazarus books. My very first favorite series, though, was Anne Shirley.
Revisiting the Anne Emerys--Sally & Jean Burnaby's high school traumas!-- Rosamond DuJardins--Tobey & Midge & later the twins!--& the bounty of Malone titles is like a combo of a slo-mo time machine & comfort food. I'll forever envy Mary Fred her palominos--somehow *I* never encountered anyone who wanted to thank me by giving me their golden mare's foal. But why would even a cynical publisher EVER think there could be too many smart-ass female PI's in this needy world?
Wonderful piece and a great reminder to jump back into Mick Herron's books. Also, congratulations on all the grandmaster/GOH appearances and, of course, cannot wait for your next book. Your newsletters are one of the few that I always, always open right away.
Showing my age: Hardy Boys, then Sherlock, and then Nero Wolfe. The Wolfe books are hard to read today; they tick many boxes on -isms we should avoid. I wore out my library card retrieving them to read by flashlight under the covers.And then my sister saved me with Tey, Sayers, etc.
Oh how I loved Trixie Belden! My sister always got to read them first. I’m still bitter.
Love this. The Half Magic books played a pivotal role in my childhood reading habits. I have the collection and reread at least Half Magic every summer.
Oh my God, Martha. I haven't seen her in years, but the magic came flooding back with that picture.
Why has no one made movies of the Edward Eager books yet? I want something that will make them read the books!
I think the reason that Eager has never "popped" for younger generations is that the characters are very, very bookish. That's my best guess.
Gail Honeyman loops all of the characters in her books together over time, and so I consider them a series. Louise Penny is fun, especially on a long flight. At a certain point in my life, I was hooked on Sara Paretsky and bought all of her books as soon as they came out. as a kid, my favorites were the Bobsey Twins and Betsy-Tacy. And of course, Tess, who I discovered at the beginning of Covid. I turned my mom on to your Tess books, but she read them out of order. At one point, she said to me, “I can’t keep track of Crow.”
Harriet the Spy turned ME into an 11-year-old spy in 1971 in Alexandria, Va. I wish I still had the composition book I carried around to make notes (I remember my nosy mother pointing out a Congressman's wife, Betty Ford, in the local Safeway. Mrs. Ford bought pink toilet paper, which I thought was fancy.). I immediately read the sequel, the Long Secret (not as good), and waited impatiently for the next book in the series. As a Nancy Drew/Bobbsey Twins veteran, I thought a two books meant more had to come. A few years ago I read a very good biography of Louise Fitzhugh called Sometimes You Have to Lie. It explained a lot.
I wish I had my composition book too. I did the same things (on all of this except for Betty).
Trixie Belden! Wonder if I still own any. I have a vivid physical sense memory of one of them- the colors of the color, but particularly the sticky feel, because the plastic bit had acquired that old plastic feel.
A wonderful entry, thank you, and hooray for RPT’s Oz books. (I used to wait regularly on Sara Paretsky and her husband at Gitanes on Clark Street, which I remember particularly because I remember the evening they were celebrating her having sold her first book.)
Very cool!
I have read every book by Robert Parker - such an amazing writer. I wish the TV versions had come close - but alas. (They never do, right?). DuJardin! I had totally forgotten about her books (read in junior high). What is the connection to Emory? (I will Google - lol). Trixie was my forever hero. I started and ran a horse farm for 10 years and still love (and miss them) all because of her. If only I'd had a Regan to help care for them! (So much work). The Bob Whites of the Glenn made cleaning tack sound SOOO fun. (haha). My parents got me 3 new TB books every Christmas and birthday. I used to just DIE for another one. (Sometimes, mom would let me buy one with my allowance saved up for months when we went to the bookstore). Our library did not carry them. They had the first three and that is it. And why didn't a TV series come out about her? The Hardy Boys (Sean Cassidy!!!) was ok - and I watched - but TB! I would still run to watch it if they made one. (The authors of TB were a conglomerate of people - and I used to get mad as a child when I noticed errors in facts - Wait! You got that wrong!)
I love both outfits but truly love the pants. Either will be glamorous, amazing, and make you shine! You go! I love your books and series - return to them - we will buy them.
Sorry - Emery. Looked her up. I do think I read some of her books but they didn't stick like the Du Jardin books. Both from Illinois (as am I). But DuJardin died before I was born - Emery lived til '87. Dinny Gordon rings some bell but not enough to be memorable (not like Tess or Trixie).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Emery_(young_adult_writer)
I always have wondered whether these YA books from that time period made their authors any money?
Books, series, blah blah blah. The pants, it’s the pants!🙂
I love series! Visiting characters over and over is like hanging out with a friend. I made my way through all the Nancy Drews I could find, read every Spenser novel (and every other Robert B Parker novel), did the whole Kenzie/Gennaro series, the Decker/Lazarus books. My very first favorite series, though, was Anne Shirley.
Laura! You are entirely too much fun! Thx for writing. Period. And everything.
Rebecca
Revisiting the Anne Emerys--Sally & Jean Burnaby's high school traumas!-- Rosamond DuJardins--Tobey & Midge & later the twins!--& the bounty of Malone titles is like a combo of a slo-mo time machine & comfort food. I'll forever envy Mary Fred her palominos--somehow *I* never encountered anyone who wanted to thank me by giving me their golden mare's foal. But why would even a cynical publisher EVER think there could be too many smart-ass female PI's in this needy world?
I was a Nancy Drew girl, picking up vintage books from yard sales as a kid.
Can't wait to see the winning outfit since the runners-up are so fabulous!
Laissez les bon temps rouler!
Wonderful piece and a great reminder to jump back into Mick Herron's books. Also, congratulations on all the grandmaster/GOH appearances and, of course, cannot wait for your next book. Your newsletters are one of the few that I always, always open right away.
Showing my age: Hardy Boys, then Sherlock, and then Nero Wolfe. The Wolfe books are hard to read today; they tick many boxes on -isms we should avoid. I wore out my library card retrieving them to read by flashlight under the covers.And then my sister saved me with Tey, Sayers, etc.
It would be SO GANGSTER to change in the middle of the Edgars, and now I'm annoyed that you're not going to do it.