For about two or three months now, I've been trying to remember the name of one of my favorite books as a thirteen year old. Several brain cells fewer owing to various chemicals over the years, my memory ain't what it used to be. I couldn't remember the book and refused to have a bash at it over the internet. Like most good things, I figured, it'd come back to me in time.
The reason for my renewed interest in this book owes to a cousin of mine who turns thirteen in a few months. I tried to think of something I could give to her which wouldn't be just some lame gift from an adult. It made me realize how far from thirteen I had come (which is hard to believe, in and of itself). I tried to remember the things that really affected me at that age. All the things that came to mind were either books or music. I can't wrap my head around most of the music kids now are listening to, even though I'm surrounded by it a great deal of the time, and besides, kids have all different kinds of tastes. But I remembered this book I read. It was maybe the second or third book I'd ever read cover to cover in a day (the first being The Phantom Tollbooth) I remember it almost like it was yesterday. It was May 1992, and I was sitting in the back of a van riding up to New Hampshire for some weekend camping with a few other kids at my school. The book follows a thirteen year old boy thru a year at school. Oddly enough, it was written by a woman. The boy is smart and perceptive, but he continuously misinterprets the events unfolding around him. It squeezed some real feeling out of me.
Three nights ago the name of the book came to me in a flash: The Secret Life Of Adrian Mole, aged 13 3/4. It arrived completely out of nowhere, as if my mind all of a sudden subconsciously decided to remember the name of an old friend. There is a good chance I will be re-reading this sometime soon; regardless, I've found a gift for my cousin.
(note: the cover of my original copy of this book is entirely different than that of the one pictured above. Think old maroon paperback Catcher In The Rye only forest green. I can't seem to find it anywhere on the web)
2 comments:
as soon as the studying is done, i will put this at the top of my literary to-do list.
thanks for the heads up.
I think there's a few books- i might've read the one where he's 15 or so. And not even for school or anything.
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