Day 13: A Fictional Book

A fictional book... let's see... how do I choose one?

I have read many books in my day, and a lot of them have left impressions on me in one way or another. I remember reading "Ribsy" in 3rd grade and not liking it, and in my book report I called it boring. And my teacher told me that there is no such thing as a boring book, only the boring mind that interprets it. Isn't that a nice thing to tell an 8 year? So, let my wrack my boring mind and try to come up with a good fictional book to tell you all about.

I think that, much like all the other topics, I'm not going to be able to keep it to just one; but I'll compromise and keep it to one series.

Since I started reading, the "Little House" series has held a special place in my heart. I still re-read them every couple of years.

I remember wanting to make maple sugar candy like Laura and Mary got to make, and I had a little chalkboard slate, and I would do math problems on it at my desk in my room, pretending that I was in a one-room schoolhouse like they had.

My favorite of the series is "These Happy Golden Years," the book where Laura and Almanzo start seeing each other and get married. Every time I read it, I still get excited when I get to the chapter titled, "Barnum Walks," because I know that's when Almanzo is going to propose. And I smile wickedly to myself when Laura lets the blanket flap in the wind to scare the horses to try to keep Nellie from going on their rides with them.

I remember reading these books for the first time when I was in elementary school, and I would borrow them from my sister. We read the books so many times that the pages started to fall out, and eventually I got a new copy of the series. My newer ones haven't been read quite as many times, and are still in good shape, but even as I think about them now, I am tempted to run upstairs and grab one of them and settle in on the couch for a nice little read.

And back to the "there's no such thing as a boring book," I truly beg to differ. I had to read "What Maisie Knew" by Henry James when I was at Trinity, and that book bored me silly. And I don't think that it was just my boring mind, because my friends that had to read it all felt the same. So, either I travel in a circle of boring minds, or maybe, just maybe, my third grade reading teacher was just a jerk.