#and 2) harry potter is also too scary so far- until my cousin went around her and the first like 3 chapters gave me no nightmares

[inklingofadream]

I just finished my latest nonfiction bedtime book, which was Paperback Crush

It's a very fun tour through the themes and esoterica of 80s and 90s scholastic book fair fare, the things "we all" remember (more or less; many of the same series were still going strong in the 00s)

And I cannot emphasize enough. How little I am included in "we all"

Not a single book until the chapters on "Danger" and "Terror" when we get to books about ghosts, kidnappings, etc

The stuff she talks about at the beginning of every chapter/section? Establishing the candidates for first YA novel or the beginnings of children's books about the genre to hand?

Like 70% hit rate. The long list of Stratemeyer Syndicate detective stories? Not only was I into Nancy Drew, with her tens of thousands of reviews per book on Goodreads, and Trixie Belden, with her thousands, I read (thrift store find) The Dana Girls, who are lucky to have a book break 100 ratings or reviews, and who have shot up fabulously in popularity because when I was a little kid I could not, for any price, find additional books on ebay

Haven't read a single book in the "Romance" section... except of course for the supporting point for romance being a big driving force in all eras of the history of English-language publishing, Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded. For a class, sure, but I do regret renting that one instead of buying my own, and will probably end up doing so eventually (Its first half-ish could go up against any "Dark Romance" pull of today, except for how the author absolutely does not know that). It's literally the only one I read as an adult, though.

Sicklit YA, especially then, has a lot of vibes of Victorian etc era stories about angelic, virginal heroines driving others to self improvement with their illness, it's true! What's that? Your example? What Katy Did! Not merely a moderately-obscure pull in which the heroine suffers a debilitating spinal injury and eventually is cured when she cheers up a little (lol. lmao. yes really, with a side of "not being a tomboy" to bolster that), it is of course. Unironically. Second grade Ink's actual answer to "what's your favorite book?"

Not even in a hipster way. I didn't even realize it was that old until, in something of a pattern, I was old enough to find out from Wikipedia that it had sequels. Which, in something of a pattern, I could not lay hands on- but more because the original was an audiobook in our local library than difficulty of acquisition, they're public domain now. By the time I was up to the physical book version I had been gifted a vintage copy of What Katy Did At School :)

So Like. If anyone finds a book covering through a nostalgic lens the literature from the childhood of those growing up any time between 1850 and 1970 let me know, I guess!

#literature #my childhood #this wasnt even like. my mom pushing or restricting books #the sum of her interference was 1) anything with a skeleton on the front or written by rl stine is too scary #and 2) harry potter is also too scary so far- until my cousin went around her and the first like 3 chapters gave me no nightmares #(the forbidden forest DID give me nightmares. i immediately forgot i'd skipped to book 2 and was confused for a year or 2 lol) #my mom gave a couple suggestions of books she remembered liking and bc i am the more concentrated version of her #i would just. ask the librarians for more like caddie woodlawn. and no one ever gave me pushback bc they all knew my grandma lol #even at other branches they Knew i was her granddaughter bc she was very... memorable? dedicated? weird? who can say #i was as offended by later iterations as if i had personally grown up spending all my allowance on 'original' nancy drew #and was deeply shook when i found out that they *werent* the originals lol. so much so that i literally did not absorb the why #(the why is to remove all the black characters outright so they couldnt be called racist) #ink post