Abridged Books Make Me Irate

When I was in elementary, we had a collection of kids' abridged classics. The thing is, I didn't know they were abridged. And, after reading through all the Nancy Drews and other things I was interested in, I needed something "bigger" to read. So around age 11 or so, I got interested in the classics.

I remember looking at the stack and being excited to read Treasure Island, Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, Around the World in 80 Days, etc. So, I started reading and was like... ok these aren't so hard. I don't see what the big deal is. And then...

And then. I discovered that these books WERE NOT THE REAL BOOKS. I was furious. I had been tricked! The nerve! Who pays money for fake, incomplete books??

(I was in full-on "speak to the manager" mode... a miniature vesrion of "Janet", if you will)

Deciding never again to be fooled by the publishers of these imposters, I went in search of the real thing, and I started collecting unabridged classics.

I don't know if it was my actual first classic (depends on your definition of "classic," I suppose), but the first one I remember reading was A Tale of Two Cities, and I LOVED IT.

So that is the short story of how I got bent out of shape because of some abridged classics.

(P.S. I have a set of abridged classics for kids in case my kids are interested in them one day) =)

Comments

Cloak Girl

So back in college, there was a girl who wore a forest green cape every day. I don't remember her name, though I roomed across the hall from her one year. She was obviously very into fantasy. She loved Lord of the Rings and had a whole fantasy village set up outside her room window. Most people thought she was a little weird and quite a few made fun of her. I remember just thinking she was a little different. I mean, I liked LOTR too, but I didn't wear a cape. No one else did. She was a nice girl though. I know she MUST have known she was the object of a lot of jokes. Despite what people think, you're never oblivious to that. Well, today, I made a green cloak. Now, I'm the "cape girl"! I guess some people might mock me. Honestly, I don't care. Not at this point. I've learned how to sew and can make a cloak! In fact, I did so in just a few hours today. So I'm pretty proud of myself. The character I'm cosplaying is Kvothe from The Name...

Mom of the Year

Before I write this blog post, I want to say a few things. By its nature, this post is exclusive. It is about one thing and not about other things. But it is not meant to say that one thing is better than another. It's just not about all those things. All of us who are parents are doing the best we can. I respect and admire those who choose to stay home with their little ones full-time. You're doing hard work, and it's a great thing. I see a lot of posts from parents who stay home with their children talking about how they love it and it's the best thing. They can't imagine not doing that. Wonderful! I see posts that get shared that extol staying home full-time with your children. That's great, too. But this post is specifically for the mom who works full-time outside the home. I don't see much for those of us who do that, so this is for us. I know "working mom" is a bit of a misnomer since all moms are working moms, but for clarity's s...

Fibromyalgia: My Journey of Health, Perspective, and Trust

This is less a post about failing, although I certainly had those moments. It's just something I'm sharing. I hope it helps someone in some way. It started back in May of 2011. Around the time of this picture on the lake. I randomly started having trouble breathing and realized I was coughing a lot. Of course, working at WebMD, I began a long process of self-diagnosing. (Something I try to never do now.) My symptoms seemed to point to asthma, although I imagined a dozen worse scenarios. The doctor thought it could be severe allergies so he gave me some medications to try. It didn't help. I went back and he gave me an asthma test. It did not indicate asthma but did show some improvement in breathing with a breathing treatment, so he put me on inhaled steroids and a rescue inhaler. That did seem to help a bit... but when I say a bit, I really mean that. It was minimal improvement. I spent the whole summer barely able to breathe and unable to be outside for more than...

Utter Failures

Search This Blog