We finally got some more bookshelves in the living room. I keep trying to get a handle on our books, but it's hard. I'm not even going to discuss my craft/sewing book collection right now.
With the extra room, I was able to take these out— my childhood copies of "The Dark Is Rising" series by Susan Cooper. They were my all time favorite. I started them in 5th and read them repeatedly until 8th grade, always starting "The Dark is Rising" in the fall. Later, I only found one other kid who knew about them. They were my secret and I felt like they were written just for me. I had never heard of them and bought them on my own. I actually remember the bookstore I got them in (no longer around, a shop in John's Landing in the 1980s) and went back to buy each book in the series. My memory of this experience is so unlike the world of Harry Potter and other books for kids right now, where they seem to seep into our collective consciousness and have big marketing behind them. That can be fun too, but it is powerful to have a series, or even just one book, that feels like your own secret, even if it's actually not. Of course, it's much better for the author if it's not a secret. You know what I mean.
These books are well loved but not in the best shape. I have tried to read them to my girls and they have not taken to them. Yet. But I'm not giving up, I'm just trying to be casual about it. Even if they don't ever dig them, I think it's important for them to know what books meant a lot to me growing up. I plan to torture them with my college albums soon as well. While looking for new copies of these I kind of freaked out. I saw the edition that Folio Society has and the artwork looks amazing. With slipcovers! I never loved these original covers and I always wished they were a complete set—the first one is a different publisher. Did anyone else read these? I need to re-read them. I remember them being magical and epic, as well as humorless and mildly boring. In a good way. I learned a lot of Welsh from them, I remember that. Did you all have secret books no one else seemed to know about? Please share! I love hearing about this kind of stuff.
