Alice McKinley, Nancy Drew, and Wilkie Collins.

Planning some post-Cybil reading:

This review of the new Alice McKinley book made me laugh like a loon AND get all nostalgic.  Now I want to go back and re-read the series.  And then get caught up.

Speaking of books that are maddening AND wonderful... this blogger is running a Nancy Drew challenge next year.  She's challenging people to read all 56 of the original books (well, the yellow versions) in a year.  As the challenge allows for skipping those we've already read, I'd only need to read 46, which sounds so much more do-able than 56.  I'm still debating.

As I didn't run a Big Read this month, I'm thinking about running one in January.  And I'm thinking about making it Wilkie Collins' Woman in White, in honor of its 150th anniversary.  This was the article that inspired me.  Sound fun?

Comments

[cc]

Oh yeah, the Woman in White. I got it on audio with different voices for the different narratives and I was loving it over the weekend but I will stop if you're going to do a Big Read of it.

[Becky]

I'd love to do a Big Read of Woman in White!

[Tom Angleberger]

Sorry I'm in the middle of W.I.W. right now and can't stop!

Unless there's a major change, however, I have to say that I like Collins' Moonstone better.

[Blaize]

Reading Woman in White is all about the art of waiting (and waiting...and waiting) for something to happen. I'm not that patient, and agree that The Moonstone is a better read.

[Kate]

I read Woman in White a few years ago. I still can't decide if I liked it, but I do think about it quite often. I'm chiming in with, "Do The Moonstone instead!"

[tanita]

Huh. Well, I have a terrible thing to admit: I've only ever read maybe 3 Drews. She kind of annoyed me in grad school (but then, I was reading her for crit lit, not for fun, and I had to point out all the ways in which she embodied the 1930's feminine archetype. Ugh), but it might be fun to give her another shot if she ever gets any less boring.

I *did* just watch Nancy Drew, Reporter from 1939, with Bonita Granville. WOW, was that a HOOT.

[Leila]

I've read The Moonstone too many times, I think. (Not that that's really possible, but you know what I mean.) And The Woman in White has over 40 cliffhangers! 40!

But I've been wanting to read this version of The Arabian Nights, too. So that's an option. I know! I'll make a POLL!

[Reka]

Oh, you HAVE to read Woman in White! I agree that Moonstone is probably the better book and worthy of a read too--it was the first detective novel, after all--but you haven't lived if you haven't read Woman in White.

And you should definitely do the Nancy Drew challenge. I was one of those kids who read all 56 in about two weeks when I discovered them at the age of 9, so you can certainly manage them all in a year. Even if you have to stop and snort with laughter once in a while. I'd also suggest you read the yellow (abridged) version of one book and then read the original longer version of it. The writing wasn't necessarily better in the originals, but Nancy kicked ass a lot more. She totes a gun to rescue her father in the second book, and in one of the later books (wish I could remember which one!) there is this priceless line from Beth, who wants her lunch: "I've had nothing but a hamburger since breakfast. I'm practically grown together in the middle!"

[cc]

Obviously I did not include enough exclamation points to convey my true feelings:

WOMAN IN F'ING WHITE!

(Though I agree the Moonstone is maybe better. Is Marian cooler than anybody? Yes. Is Fosco awesomer than whatizname? Duh. SO many back 'n forths. But the Moonstone has Gabriel Betteredge and that horrible religious tract lady.) Still, what it comes down to is that I have read the Moonstone maybe 8 or 10 times and the WiW only 3 or 4.

(Please not the Arabian Nights. I will pout.)