Last Day of the Book Meme!

[selenak]

30. Would save if my house burned down.

Well, there goes my secret First Folio. Kidding aside, I think I'd go for a novel my second teacher ever presented to me when I had finished primary school. We had been his first class, and he gave everyone a book as a farewell present, not the same, but a different book for each student, depending on her or his taste, with an individual dedication written by him. I received "Up a road slowly" by Irene Hunt, and here is what I remember about it, not having read it since three decades: the heroine is a loner in love with books and wanting to become a writer. She has a terse relationship with her aunt whom she grows up with after her parents died, originally rejecting her as an humorless spinster, and the reader along with our heroine discovers step by step how fabulous the aunt (named Cordelia) really is. Another interesting relationship is with her uncle (the aunt's brother, not her husband), who is a bit of a slightly more functional Branwell Bronte type (expected to be the brilliant one of the family, overindulged, turns into self destructive alcoholic), who decdes that our heroine is his shot at redemption at some point.

There are also some love interests about, but I don't remember anything about them. Anyway, I loved the book, appreciated that my teacher had picked it for me (the indicated age range on the back was five years older than I was, but Mr. U. knew what else I was reading at that point), and would definitely grab it on my hypothetical way out of a burning house.





1. Favorite book from childhood
2. Best Bargain
3. One with a blue cover.
4. Least favorite book by favorite author
5. Doesn't belong to me.
6. The one I always give as a gift.
7. Forgot I owned it.
8. Have more than one copy.
9. Film or tv tie-in.
10. Reminds me of someone I love.
11. Second hand bookshop gem.
12. I pretend to have read it.
13. Makes me laugh.
14. An old favorite.
15. Favorite Fictional Father
16. Can’t believe more people haven’t read it.
17. Future classic
18. Bought on a recommendation.
19. Still can't stop talking about it.
20. Favorite Cover.
21. Summer Read
22. Out of Print.
23. Made to read at school.
24. Hooked me into reading.
25. Never finished it.
26. Should have sold more copies.
27. Want to be one of the characters.
28. Bought at my fave independent bookshop.
29. The one I have reread most often.

Comments

[sovay]

Anyway, I loved the book, appreciated that my teacher had picked it for me (the indicated age range on the back was five years older than I was, but Mr. U. knew what else I was reading at that point), and would definitely grab it on my hypothetical way out of a burning house.

You make it sound great! It feels like something I should have read in elementary school, but am pretty sure I did not.

[selenak]

I lucked out with most of my teachers, starting with this one. Three years ago, they asked me to be the member of a jury for an elementary school reading out loud competition in my hometown, and lo and behold, one of the kids who later came to me was a student of that very same teacher, who by now is headmaster of another school.

[likeadeuce]

Oh I lovvve that book. I have a copy I picked up second hand somewhere and when I find it I am planning to send it to my sister-in-law Julie (currently stationed overseas) since it's about a girl named Julie-not-Julia, which is a thing my J tends to run into (and after we talked about that, I started raving about the book).

[selenak]

You're the first who also knows this book! *beams*