on the subject of giving advice to younger selves ...

[truepenny]

The discussion of my previous [now friends-locked] post on the subject of advice one would give one's twelve-year-old self reminded me of a quote from Margaret Mahy's The Catalogue of the Universe, which I paraphrased. Sine the quote has sparked interest and discussion, I thought I'd better do the thing properly, and let Mahy's words speak for themselves:

He wished there were some way he could reach back to his five-year-old self, optimistically looking forward to school and learning to read, still confident he was naturally loveable, and tell him, "Don't worry too much! It turns out all right." But there was no way it could be done. He had had to live, would always have to live through everything to reach this morning, and now he had reached it he couldn't simply stop there and enjoy it. Perhaps somewhere ahead a future self was walking past the school, wanting to reach him at this very moment in order to warn him. Tycho stopped and made Angela stop too, and kissed her and made her kiss him back, for he did not want to hear any warning, telling him not to be too happy.
(Mahy 174-5)

I don't remember when I first read this book, or my other favorite of hers, The Changeover. But I think I got both books via the school's mail-order book club thingy (anybody else remember that? I got a whole stack of those Sunfire historical romances that way), and that was a junior high phenomenon. Certainly, the battered condition of the paperback suggests that it is both old and well-read.

Time to get out the booktape and practice a little home-mummification.

---
WORKS CITED
Mahy, Margaret. The Catalogue of the Universe. 1985. New York: Point-Scholastic Inc., 1987.

Comments

[renenet.livejournal.com]

But I think I got both books via the school's mail-order book club thingy (anybody else remember that? I got a whole stack of those Sunfire historical romances that way), and that was a junior high phenomenon.

Yes, yes. Scholastic book club. Take the catalog home, browse for books, fill out the form, get money from Mom and Dad, stick in in an envelope, take it to school by the deadline for the teacher to send in a class order. Upper elementary school not junior high, but yes. Is *that* how I started reading those Sunfire historical romances? Eventually we bought them at the bookstore at the mall (my parents or my grandmother if it was my birthday or Christmas or me if my eleven-year-old self had any money), but that was after I was way addicted to their genre-ific glory. I learned for the first time about the whole "the century starts in '01 not '00" thing, indentured servants in colonial America, discrimination against the Irish in 19th century Boston, female mill workers in New England -- god, I love historical fiction, even formulaic YA romance series historical fiction. Plus? There was even one that did my favorite playing-with-Barbies game from when I was younger: girl disguised as a boy. (Yes, I persisted in running that scenario again and again, even as Barbie's huge plastic breasts made a mockery of her improvised "boy" clothes. It really used to annoy my friend Jenny when I wanted to play that one *again*--but, hey! at her house it was always smarmy BadGuy!Ken keeping multiple Barbies as sex slaves on his highly guarded, private tropical island. I'm not ashamed to admit I played with Barbies as a kid, because everything we did with them was so twisted, despite our angelic appearances. This same friend used Barbie and Ken to explain to me that babies came from a man and a woman rubbing naked bottoms. Didn't seem right to me, so I took it with a grain of salt and felt vindicated when my mom explained things a little bit better when I was nine. La la la...you *so* didn't ask for my childhood Barbie stories. You got 'em, anyway. La.)

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

My Barbies tended to get trapped in Gothic porn rather a lot. So your childhood Barbie stories strike a chord.

I think I had like 20 of those Sunfires before (a.) the book-club people got stupid and quit carrying them every time and (b.) it seemed to me--and maybe this was true or maybe I was just developing the first hints of a critical faculty--that they were degenerating in quality. They were always insanely formulaic, but the early ones were (a.) longer! and (b.) had more plot that wasn't romance. My favorite was always the first one, Amanda, about the Oregon Trail; for most of the book she didn't have a boyfriend at all, 'cause she was pining for that sleazeball in Boston who we all knew wasn't going to come save her. And there was a lot of honest-to-god historical detail (or at least what seemed like it to me at the time) about the Trail and the people who followed it. That may have been the first place I ever read about the Donner Party.

Also very fond of Jessica, where she picks the cranky widower over the sexy Native American (I kind of always wanted her to pick the sexy Native American, but I was pleased with the realism that admitted they'd make each other miserable) and Emily, about turn of the century New York and the gilded girl who decides to do hospital work. Also remember the Civil War one (Susannah), New England witch-hunts (Merrilee), Hollywood in the 20's (Roxanne). I read the Irish in Boston one (Kathleen?), and the mill-worker one, but I don't think I got the indentured servants in colonial America one. Damn. Because now I want to read it, and I so completely know it wouldn't be worth it.

Also? My shelf of them looked really cool. Probably the origin of my obsession with matching editions. Drat you, Sunfire.

[renenet.livejournal.com]

I agree with you about the declining quality. The shrinking length really got my goat. The Salem witch trials one was Elizabeth. Marilee was the Jamestown settlement and it was the one with the indentured servant. He's the guy she ends up with. He'd signed on to be an indentured servant to her brother (in exchange for passage to America, I think), but her brother's widow illegally kept him as her indentured servant after the brother died. His death should have ended the contract, but servant dude didn't know that because he was illiterate. And the widow and her new husband had sent him to serve in the militia in the new husband's place! And he could have been injured or killed! At least, that's how I remember it. I loved Marilee, and I read the best parts over and over again. Frequently after finishing one of the later ones and being dissatisfied.

I read all the ones you mentioned. That cranky widower sure grew on me as that story progressed. May have been where I first understood about making soap from lye (although I'd probably heard of lye soap from the Little House books or something). I'm quite sure that I first heard of the 1917 influenza epidemic from the one about women's suffrage.

Also? I love that your Barbies got trapped in gothic porn. They so deserved it. That's much more subversive than the Copacabana game I was into for a while -- my lone Ken doll *was* Rico. He had a ring. He wore a dark blue velvet jump suit with a burgundy cravat. What a player (http://www.manbehindthedoll.com/superstar77.htm).

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I remember those! Both Elizabeth and Marilee (and I think maybe the crossdressing one--Victoria?) were by Mary Frances Shura. Or no, wait, was Elizabeth by Willo Davis Roberts, who also did my favorite tear-jerker, Don't Hurt Laurie!? I think it was.

What happened to my copies of those? Now I must find them again.

And yes. I got them through school bookclubs.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

The link (http://www.geocities.com/brynahilde/sunfire/) supplied by the diabolical renenet is to a page which has a complete rundown by title (author listed and cover scan included). It's amazing how many of them I can't tell if I've read that book or some other novel with breathtakingly similar plot/theme/character/whatever.

Mostly I don't regret them, but I am a little sorry I ditched Amanda.

Should I be looking for any of these authors' other output? (You mentioned a Willo Davis Roberts, and now my curiosity is piqued.)

addendum

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Was the cross-dressing Sunfire about the chick in the Gold Rush? Or was that some other goofy YA historical romance I read as a teenager?

Re: addendum

[renenet.livejournal.com]

Yes. Gold Rush. Caroline maybe?

Yes, Caroline. I just went and found this little tour down memory lane (http://www.geocities.com/brynahilde/sunfire/). I'm pretty sure I had every last one of the books listed there. I used to like predicting from the cover photo which guy the heroine would end up with.

Re: addendum

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

I used to like predicting from the cover photo which guy the heroine would end up with.

Dude. Totally. I had a whole system for it, which I now (mercifully) don't remember.

V. weird: I'd completely conflated Marilee and Elizabeth. I think perhaps it was that I didn't like anything about Marilee except her name, and so gave her name to Salem-chick instead. I'm more than a little disturbed that my recall is as good as it is. Laura is the book that taught me about the influenza epidemic.

God, I wasn't making it up. Roxanne's cover did show her in a pink fuzzy sweater exactly like that of one of my Barbie dolls! Bwah!

I think I must have stopped with Rachel, because I know I never saw Corey. Multicultural Sunfire-ism! Who'da thought? Although the Great Earthquake chick should have been Chinese. That would have been interesting.

Also, is it just me, or did the covers get worse as they went along? Maybe is just me.

Also, I hate you forever for linking to that Sunfire site. *g*

Re: addendum

[renenet.livejournal.com]

Multicultural Sunfire-ism! Who'da thought?

Token multicultural Sunfire-ism. But still. It was a short one. They got so damn short!

Also, I hate you forever for linking to that Sunfire site. *g*

:p I want it back! When it comes back maybe I'll contact the creator and offer to mirror it so the world doesn't lose access for bandwidth reasons. Or, um, maybe not, because that's insane. (Actually, insane doesn't bother me. The fact that I'll be moving within the year and the webspace I'm thinking of is tied to my current ISP is the real reason not to bother with that.)

Even in Australia

[vass]

the school's mail-order book club thingy (anybody else remember that? I got a whole stack of those Sunfire historical romances that way)

Yes indeed.

It was before junior secondary for me - I got picture books and a few short novels. I can only remember one purchase just now, 'The Great Big Block of Chocolate,' and I can still recite much of the story.

Miss Jenny bought some chocolate,
A great big block of chocolate.
She said, "This block of chocolate
Is mine, and all for me.

"Just the very sight of it
Brings back the taste delight of it,
I'll savour every bite of it,
But later, secretly."

Of course, she loses the chocolate, the cat gets it, the dog steals it from the cat, a magpie steals it from the dog, and finally some ants find it and are permitted to enjoy it, either because they morally shared it or prudently ate it when they could, the book isn't clear. It concludes "We'll savour every bite of it, But right now, gleefully."

Thank you for that memory.

[alecto23.livejournal.com]

I get like this whenever I re-read my journal if it's more than a couple of years old.

I remember Scholastic Book Club, but what I also remember is this book marathon thing where people sponsored you to read a certain number of books for charity. I can't remember the details. All I know is that I creamed everyone else in that, and I remember feeling so thrilled and satisfied that finally they were running some kind of competition I was actually good at.

And if I hadn't already added you to my friends list because of your near-vindication of Jackson's Faramir (I was seriously sleep-deprived last night when I read it or I'd've commented then), I would have now. Anyone who's read Margaret Mahy and has the same two favourites as I do has got to be good people.

So, hi! *wave in general direction*

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

I was hoping if I waited, I'd think of some more substantial reply than:

Hi!
*waves back*

But I haven't.

There's more Faramir-discussion over on heres_luck's LJ, where book-Faramir is being defended against my intemperate dismissal of him. A necessary corrective, I suspect.