Family Album

Ok, this one i am a little embarrased about. But seriously, I was in middle school! A few years before that, a babysitter (she was so cool, even my brother was in love with her) watched a soap opera. I was forced to watch it. Days of Our Lives. The entire summer. So I got sucked in. My brother got sucked in. And we watched it for years afterwards, willingly. Even long after the babysitter. :) So this book was in my life because I wanted more soap opera-ish titles.
You know whats sad? Even now when i go to the market, I'll recognize actors from Days Of Our Lives who are still on the show...and I still remember their names. :)

The Outsiders

"As I walked out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie theatre..." my favourite opening to a book ever. I just love it. I've seen it and heard that line so many times in different variations...this book is amazing. From names like Pony Boy and Soda Pop...to a poem by Robert Frost. I love the idea of two best friends reading Gone with the Wind to each other. I love Dallas and how he isnt scared...and yet so scared. Tuff. I love the time it takes place. I love the knives and the greasy hair. And I love its innocence. Rebels without A Cause. This one is in my top ten. I've read it more than anything else.

The Pigman

Book 2 from Claudettes pile. I remember that it moved me. I re-read it again in my 20's and it still had that charm. :)

Go Ask Alice

One of the first books I remember reading. I was at a neighbors house. My nieghbors and I were like family. I used to hang there a lot. Their children were always older than me but I liked their house. It was a lot more peaceful than mine. I was a part of their family. Still am, in a lot of ways.
Mary, the mother of the older children, was going through some old things. And i had come over to watch her...and learn about life, as I always did. She found a box of old books that belonged to her husbands sister when she was my age and she gave them to me. Thus began my love of books. Go Ask Alice was the first one I've read from that pile. 2 others follow. The owner of the books, her name is Claudette. She lives in Maryland and she does not know that i started my life that day.