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Words from the past
Apr. 23rd, 2009 08:26 pmEvery so often, I start thinking about books I read in elementary school, junior high, and high school. I read a _lot_of books back then, and I can only remember bits and pieces, sometimes cover art, sometimes passages, but never the author and rarely the title.
I started again today thinking about the young-adult/teenage novel bin at the library back home. I read _so_ many of those; they were quick reads; I could finish one in about an hour. One, I thought I remembered the title as "Jeff and the Fat Girl." I think maybe the cover art mentioned something about Jeff, the narrator, which is why I remember it that way (that, and my brother, named Jeff, threw a fit about me reading this, because he wasn't interested in fat girls. He was seriously pissed that I'd read something that implied he liked fat girls). Apparently, the title is just "The Fat Girl," author Marilyn Sachs. This is a book I kind of want to go back and read again, to see if my perspective on it has changed with age and weight. I remember my original feeling was that Ellen, the titular fat girl, seemed very disrespectful of Jeff in the end.
( Spoilers here )
Another book I remember the basic plot, but not the title of, had a girl whose older sister thought to be weird, because the girl liked to go to funerals. It turned out (not a spoiler) that the reason she liked to go to funerals had to do with the people and their clothing. It was a lot easier to get into a funeral than a wedding, both occasions where people tend to dress their best. The girl liked to sew. Just sew. Not design, not create, but sew (another reason her family found her weird). The girl had a thing for her older sister's boyfriend, and ended up making him a camel sportcoat. He eventually left the sister for her, but the girl, after being with him for a few months, started to realize he was very tiresome. She had made him the camel sportcoat because it was the in-thing in his collegiate crowd (IIRC), put leather patches on the elbows for him when the elbows started to wear thin, and when he started making hints that something else (something of a more expensive fabric, IIRC) was the new style, she finally broke up with him. I can't remember the title or author on this one, much the pity.
Maybe the next time I'm back east, I'll stop in the library and see if any of these books are still there.
I started again today thinking about the young-adult/teenage novel bin at the library back home. I read _so_ many of those; they were quick reads; I could finish one in about an hour. One, I thought I remembered the title as "Jeff and the Fat Girl." I think maybe the cover art mentioned something about Jeff, the narrator, which is why I remember it that way (that, and my brother, named Jeff, threw a fit about me reading this, because he wasn't interested in fat girls. He was seriously pissed that I'd read something that implied he liked fat girls). Apparently, the title is just "The Fat Girl," author Marilyn Sachs. This is a book I kind of want to go back and read again, to see if my perspective on it has changed with age and weight. I remember my original feeling was that Ellen, the titular fat girl, seemed very disrespectful of Jeff in the end.
( Spoilers here )
Another book I remember the basic plot, but not the title of, had a girl whose older sister thought to be weird, because the girl liked to go to funerals. It turned out (not a spoiler) that the reason she liked to go to funerals had to do with the people and their clothing. It was a lot easier to get into a funeral than a wedding, both occasions where people tend to dress their best. The girl liked to sew. Just sew. Not design, not create, but sew (another reason her family found her weird). The girl had a thing for her older sister's boyfriend, and ended up making him a camel sportcoat. He eventually left the sister for her, but the girl, after being with him for a few months, started to realize he was very tiresome. She had made him the camel sportcoat because it was the in-thing in his collegiate crowd (IIRC), put leather patches on the elbows for him when the elbows started to wear thin, and when he started making hints that something else (something of a more expensive fabric, IIRC) was the new style, she finally broke up with him. I can't remember the title or author on this one, much the pity.
Maybe the next time I'm back east, I'll stop in the library and see if any of these books are still there.
