Re-reading Childhood Faves? Suggestions?

[EmmaOwl]

I'm bored, depressed, have the attention span of a gnat (How do we know what the attention span of a gnat is, anyway? I should say I _presumably_ have the attention span of a gnat. Or, I have the attention span of what human beings presume is gnat-like. Um. Yeah.)

I've been re-reading the Little House on the Prairie books. I probably re-read this series a couple times a year (with extra reads of my favorite, "The Long Winter"). My favorite thing to do is read, from kids' books to the most boringly academic metafiction postmodern pretentious crap. Mostly fiction.

Generally I read pretty fast, but I'm having a lot of trouble concentrating, so these books are just right for me at the moment. But I AM going to finish them again, and I don't know what to turn to next. Any suggestions? Anything you find comforting to re-read?

 

[VioletButterfly]

What about Nancy Drew and/or The Hardy Boys mysteries?

P.S. I couldn't even mange those, due to my lack of attention span, so I'm back with picture books that might have a little story with them. I like the artwork, it ignites my imagination.

 

[Eagle3]

I'm a huge fan of Walter Farley and Marguerite Henry. They wrote "Black Stallion" series and "Misty of Chincoteague" series, respectively. Those were great books for me as a horse-crazy kid. I also loved The Berenstein Bears and have picked up collecting those again. Really loved the "Chronicles of Narnia" too...

 

[Ronin]

(Not my childhood but) - When in doubt, Michael Ende and the Neverending Story.

 

[Muted]

Love Comes Softly series by Janette Oake

 

[gealach]

The Eagle and The Raven - Pauline Gedge. Not a kids book, about the Roman invasion of Britain. My absolute favorite book.

anything by Piers Anthony, Sci-Fi

 

[ladee]

Two of my favorites,
Cold Sassy Tree and The Cry of Angels. For the life oF me I can not rememer the authors names.it is the only book each of them wrote.

 

[StarChild]

Since I love animal stories, (mostly) written by veterinary surgeons, I love the books of good old

• James Herriot. My favourites of him are: All creatures great and small / All Things Bright and Beautiful / All Things Wise and Wonderful (you often find the three of them combined in one book) He was a gifted observer as well as an amazing and hilarious writer, who's stories will make the reader laugh, cry, think and be in awe of all the beautiful things life comes with...

• Or what about Jeff Wells: All my Patients have Tales / All my Patients Kick and Bite (very charming and aptly written)

• And the one I'm re-reading right now, which has me literally rolling on my mattress because he makes me laugh so hard, is written by Robert M. Miller: Yes, We Treat Aardvarks (no typo :)).

• Oh, another one came to mind... John Grogan: Marley and Me: Life and Love with the World's most Worst Dog (The book is brilliant, while the movie isn't worth the time to watch it)

• And last but not least... Joyce Stranger: Kym (it's about a siamese tomkat with a voice as deep as a bear and an attitude which is simply unique...)

They're all also available as eBooks...

 

[Friday]

New Favs are most anything by Rick Riordan. I read the 5 book Lightning Thief series out loud to my son. Hooked. In a similar vein 'Black Ships Before Troy' & 'The Wanderings of Odyssesus' by Rosemary Sutcliff (retellings of the Iliad & the oddyssey).

Fair warning... The books I had to read in English as a kid were... Only sometimes children's books. I'm not really good at differentiating. There are picture books, and not-picture books, in my head. The following are some of my favs.

The Black Stallion series by Walter Farley

Big Red series by Jim Kjelgaard

White Fang & Call of the Wild by Jack London

The Jungle Book
Rikki Tikki Tavi
by Rudyard Kipling

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
By Mark Twain

The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

Sherlock Holmes series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis

Alice in the Looking Glass by Lewis Carrol

The Complete Works of Calvin & Hobbes :sneaky: by Bill Watterson


Not a children's series, but the Nero Wolfe Mysteries by Rex Stout (about 100 books all told) are quick / easy reads. I read them to stay awake whilst nursing my son in the middle of the night, and are great in small pieces (as well as several dozen short stories), and have reread them several times, since. <grin> I mostly think of them as "visiting with Archie". They were all written in the present day, so Archie & Wolfe stay the same age from 1920s until the 1960s. Which makes it kind of a fun comparison of NYC America across the decades. First book is Fer de Lance. :D

Many of these titles (anything over 70 years old) are free @ Project Gutenberg. The App in the US is the best way to them (their web page has had issues since they crossed the 100,000 title mark) or in AU here : Project Gutenberg Australia

 

[EmmaOwl]

WOW Thank you guys SO MUCH - seriously came through like I never would have guessed! Some - like Narnia & Nancy Drew- are old faves, others are good new suggestions. Horse books perfect girly angle :) Picture books are an interesting idea - I think I can get them online via my public library.

 

[EmmaOwl]

Fair warning... The books I had to read in English as a kid were... Only sometimes children's books.

Me too. I was always running out of kids' books and moved onto mysteries and sci fi and pretty much whatever was around the house. But, Friday, our tastes overlap like mad. Examples including - Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court! I adore, and Calvin and Hobbes. I keep meaning to read Rudyard Kipley's "Kim." as sort of a grown-up / kids book.

The Nero Wolfe sounds interesting too... if you like short cool mysteries you might like John D. MacDonald's series of "Travis McGee" books. Sounds like a counterpoint to your guy. Trav McGee is awesome, he lives on a houseboat in Florida (Slip F-18 in Ft. Lauderdale on a boat called The Busted Flush.) and he does not age either, books published from early 60's up to 1980s. He does "salvage" work. It's funny. I think there's about 20 of them. So not as extensive as your Nero Wolfe, but if you're looking for another clever mystery-solving guy ;)

You're also on target with the Project Gutenberg. I don't know about Australian copyright regs but in the U.S., you can get a lot of the Project Gutenberg ebooks for free directly through Amazon. Rick Riordan is on my list but i did not know of Rosemary Sutcliff. Sounds my speed though. Thank you so much for your extensive answer!

 

[EmmaOwl]

(Not my childhood but) - When in doubt, Michael Ende and the Neverending Story.

I had an old boyfriend always trying to get me to watch that movie - but I guess I can try it in book form! ;)