Why there are some books you’ll just never give up
In the garage tucked into a shelf behind a few teetering stacks of books, there is a box.
Full of books.
These books are special, though not for any literary quality or monetary value. I’ve had most of these cheap paperbacks since I was old enough to be out buying books on my own, say, around fifth grade or so. With limited resources and few shopping opportunities (mostly second-hand shops, Friends of the Library sales, Scholastic book fairs and occasional visits to an actual bookstore), I got what I could from the places I could find them.
So, quality varies.
As my youth predates the establishment of YA as a vibrant category, I was mostly encountering books for adults, those brick-sized blockbusters like “The Thorn Birds” or those John Jakes American Revolution series.
Rather than those huge books, sci-fi and mysteries seemed the most inviting. In short, they were shorter. I like a short book.
So in this box in the garage, there is, well, not a lot of literature, but a lot of … what was available. Think pop culture-related titles that were old enough to be outdated but not seasoned enough to be cooly retro: “Get Smart” novelizations. “Star Wars” novelizations. “Raiders of the Lost Ark” novelizations. “Planet of the Apes” novelizations. “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” novelizations. Marvel’s “The Avengers” novelizations.
I have a lot of novelizations. So many.
But had I come across higher-class writing at the yard sales – some Kurt Vonnegut and Octavia E. Butler, say – trust I would have bought them. (Unless the novelizations were particularly bountiful that day.)
There are also a lot of Doc Savage titles, the Bantam paperbacks with the white lettering on the black spine and red rooster logo were at one time being published once a month. My brother gave me one for my birthday, and they became my entry point into the pleasures of an extended series. I introduced my friends to them and we shared and traded books the way we shared comics.
(My local library had a copy of Philip Jose Farmer’s faux-biography of the character, “Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life,” which I believe I was solely responsible for keeping it regularly checked out of the library for several years.)
So, back to the dusty box in the garage. Some of the books – no, most of these books – I will never read at this point. But I have kept them, carried them, stored them and been saddled with them for years, for decades. It has never really occurred to me, until now, that maybe I should shed some of them, release them back into the wild to find new homes.
Why have I held on to them – other than to demonstrate a strange need to spend more time reading a book based on a movie than just watching the movie?
Maybe I think of them as time capsules, portals that connect me to my tween years (though “tween” hadn’t been coined yet; we were just kids who thankfully weren’t yet ready to hang with the too-worldly teens of that era.). I can look in the box and recall pulling on a striped T-shirt and a pair of Toughskins and riding my bike up to the book sales, sometimes being the one unaccompanied minor in a line of white-haired booksellers on the hunt to score some finds.
As specific as that memory is, one of the best things about working on this newsletter is that I know that whatever book phenomenon I’m talking about, it’s never just me who has experienced it.
Maybe you have a boxful of R.L. Stine’s “Goosebumps” or “The Baby-Sitter’s Club” – or all the Dinotopia books? (Maybe an “Air Bud” novelization?)
If so, do you have a box or a shelf of books that you’ve had for years? If so, how many times have you moved it or thought, why do I even hold onto this?
If so, and you want to share your story, email it to me with ERIK AND HIS OLD BOOKS in the subject field and if I get enough responses, I’ll share some of them in a future column.
And if you don’t want to tell me, well, I understand that, too. You’re planning to pull out that dusty pile of books and get to reading them soon.
Very, very soon.
More books out this month (and, fine, one from last month)
“And So I Roar” by Abi Daré continues the tale of Nigerian teen Adunni from the author’s previous novel, the bestselling “The Girl With the Louding Voice.”
“Elizabeth of East Hampton” by Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding is an update on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” and you just bought it, didn’t you?
“Glory Days” is a story collection by comedy writer Simon Rich featuring comic
John Mulaney reading the audiobook and that’s all I needed to track it down.
“House of Bone and Rain” by Gabino Iglesias is a novel about friends involving murder, crime, friendship and bad weather.
“Hum” by Helen Phillips is a dystopian novel about AI, surveillance and more by the author of “The Need.”
Heather Chavez is a big fan of Slaughter. (That’s Karin Slaughter)
Author of previous thrillers “Before She Finds Me,” “No Bad Deed” and “Blood Will Tell,” Heather Chavez’s latest novel is “What We’ll Burn Last” draws inspiration from the 2017 Tubbs Fire, which devastated Santa Rosa where she lives with her family.
Q. Please tell readers about your new book.
Sixteen years after Leyna Clarke watched her older sister, Grace, walk away from their Sierra Nevada foothills home with her boyfriend, Adam, a stranger who resembles Grace shows up at the restaurant where Leyna works. Soon after, the young woman vanishes — and it comes out that Leyna was one of the last people to talk with her. Reluctantly, Leyna returns to her old neighborhood, where neither her mom, Meredith, or Adam’s mom, Olivia, is at all happy to see her. Meanwhile, a wildfire sparks nearby, threatening to destroy everything.
Q. Is there a book or books you always recommend to other readers?
If I had a dollar for every time I’ve recommended “Pretty Girls” by Karin Slaughter, I’d have… a lot of dollars. I also recommend Slaughter’s “The Good Daughter” and “False Witness” nearly as much. No one does gut-punch plots featuring complicated sister relationships like Slaughter.
Q. What are you reading now?
I just started “All the Missing Girls” by Megan Miranda. I don’t know how I haven’t read this until now!
Q. How do you decide what to read next?
I’m definitely a mood reader, and I’m easily distracted by the bright and shiny new releases, which is why my TBR list is out of control. But if I’m in a slump or need the literary equivalent of comfort food, I’ll reread older favorites, like “Tell No One” by Harlan Coben, “No Exit” by Taylor Adams, or “Find Her” by Lisa Gardner.
Q. Do you remember the first book that made an impact on you?
Dean Koontz’s “Whispers,” which I read when I was 11. It was the book that made me fall in love with dark and twisty tales and stoked my desire to write them. If you’ve read my debut, you probably know what an impact that book had on me.
Q. What’s something – a fact, a bit of dialogue or something else – that has stayed with you from a recent reading?
The opening of “The Dry” by Jane Harper haunts me. The blowflies. The baby crying in isolation. I’d just finished a draft of the fire scenes in WWBL when I read “The Dry,” and reading that scene pushed me to make my own better. Harper’s descriptions set the bar incredibly high. Actually, everything about that book is a masterclass, especially when it comes to its drought-ravaged setting.
Q. Do you have any favorite book covers?
The covers for the books of May Cobb and Eliza Jane Brazier are among my favorites. They’re bold, fresh, and fun, which is also the reason I love the covers for “Before She Finds Me” and “What We’ll Burn Last.” I love color! Also, “Mexican Gothic” is stunning, and the covers for Alex North’s books are both dramatic and cohesive as a set.
Q. Do you listen to audiobooks? If so, are there any titles or narrators you’d recommend?
There are so many amazing audiobook narrators out there, but I admit to having a soft spot for the brilliant Megan Tusing, who has narrated three of my books. She has such a magnetic voice, and each time I’ve heard her take on the characters I’ve created, I’ve thought, “Yes! That’s exactly right!” I also really enjoyed the audiobook for “When I Was You” by Amber Garza. And the structure of “Daisy Jones & the Six” makes it perfect for audio. Both are really like movies for your ears.
Q. If you could ask your readers something, what would it be?
I would love to know what most surprised them, not just in my books but in others, especially with quieter, character-driven reveals or twists. Also, which relationships have stuck with them?
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